Archive for June 2012

This week the NRDC released a report, Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal Fired Power Plants in the Great Lakes Region, which highlights the impacts of mercury emissions from Great Lakes power plants on the people, fish, birds, and wildlife of our region.

Mr. Gilbertie, owner of Gilbertie’s Wholesale, a 37-acre farm in Easton, has seen a “huge increase” in the number of home growers in town during the last few years. And he believes this has created a new affinity between residents and the town’s farmers. For more on this story, visit: Growing a sustainable farming community[continue reading…]

June 9, 2012 By Soundkeeper SOUNDKEEPER in coalition with CFE and CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION FILE CLEAN WATER ACT CITIZEN SUITS AGAINST EIGHT CONNECTICUT COMPANIES NEW HAVEN, CT — Today, Soundkeeper, Connecticut Fund for the Environment and the Conservation Law Foundation announced that they filed complaints against eight Connecticut companies who allegedly violated the Clean Water[continue reading…]

Aspetuck Land Trust has announced that has acquired the 34-acre Randall’s Farm Nature Preserve, a scenic expanse of meadows, small ponds, forested wetlands and hardwood forest is open to the public and available for hiking and nature study. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

Downtown Crossing, the city’s $135 million project to remake downtown that stalled in the Board of Aldermen last month, is nearly back on track. The City Plan Commission voted on Wednesday vote to approve a zoning change that would convert 15.8 acres of land from New Haven’s central business district into a new mixed-use district[continue reading…]

PITTSFIELD — In the heart of the city, the scars are healing. In 1999, crews and heavy equipment converged on the Housatonic River to begin what would become an eight-year, $100 million cleanup of PCBs in a two-mile section of the river south of General Electric Co.’s former 250-acre Morningside plant. For more on this[continue reading…]

Members of the Naugatuck River Steering Committee, including representatives from river organizations, state and local government and foundations, recently launched naugatuckriver.net, a new website that proclaims the revival and resurgence of the Naugatuck River as a recreational asset for the Naugatuck River valley. For more on this story, visit: Group launches Website to celebrate revitalized[continue reading…]

NORWALK — Compact, walkable housing developments in neighborhoods located near transit can increase a community’s economic competitiveness, and reduce housing cost for its residents, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Growth Guidelines for Sustainable Design & Development. For more on this story, visit: Summerview Square revitalizes Main Street area of Norwalk – The[continue reading…]

Connecticut has two operating nuclear plants, Millstone 2 and Millstone 3 in Waterford and two decommissioned nuclear plants, Millstone 1 in Waterford and Connecticut Yankee in Haddam. The spent fuel from those plants remains on site awaiting a permanent federal storage facility. For more on this story, visit: Court rules against 60 years of storage[continue reading…]

At a spot where a medical student was killed by a car four years ago, volunteers gathered Sunday to spread a traffic-calming message. Abigail Roth, one of the event organizers, sent in the following report: The city’s Street Smarts campaign became more visible at the busy intersections around Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Smilow Cancer[continue reading…]

The October snowstorm resulted in “atrocious” air quality, apparently because of emissions from generators, wood stoves and fireplaces, according to the Council on Environmental Quality’s annual report delivered to the governor Thursday.

“Northern Connecticut probably saw particle levels over twice the standard that protects human health,” the report says. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

After graduating from Stanford University, Patrick Siegman worked at the University’s Office of Transportation Programs. One of his duties was to organize “bicycle valet parking” at Stanford University football games. Valet parking for bicycles is free; volunteers watch your bike while you enjoy an event. I experienced the benefits of bicycle valet parking a few years ago, when I bicycled to the Clearwater Festival in Croton Point Park. In New Canaan, the Memorial Day Parade, St. Mark’s May Fair and other car-choked events would do well by providing bicycle valet parking. Click on this environmental headline to read more of the story Richard Stowe submitted.

On Saturday, the 17-year saga of building the intermodal transportation center will conclude. City leaders plan a lavish dedication ceremony for the $21.8 million facility on West Main Street, where Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, are expected to help usher in a new era[continue reading…]

To support our efforts and keep us going, please visit our Support Us page. We thank you for your patience over the past month or so while we switched server accounts and moved the entire site. We paid a consultant to do this for us, but there were a lot of other things we had[continue reading…]

Ethan Allen has received an Environmental Merit Award from the New England Office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency “for outstanding efforts in preserving New England’s environment.” More than 30 individuals and organizations were honored by the EPA at a special ceremony held at Faneuil Hall in Boston on April 25, 2012. For more[continue reading…]

Rick Green of The Hartford Courant first spoke with William O’Neill over the phone a decade ago when he interviewed him for a story about closing the gaps in Manchester in the Charter Oak Greenway, a multiuse trail running in bits and pieces from the banks of the Connecticut River in East Hartford to Bolton[continue reading…]

Wildlife In Crisis, a Weston-based nonprofit organization focusing on wildlife preservation and land conservation, was recently awarded an Environmental Champion Award by Aquarion Water Company at a ceremony at Bridgeport’s Beardley Zoo. For more on this story, visit: Wildlife In Crisis an Environmental Champion – Weston-Redding-Easton, CT Patch. Aquarion Water Company Announces Winners of Statewide[continue reading…]

The Green Party today challenged the Government to take urgent to action to address our poor water quality given that New Zealand’s ranking has dropped to 43rd in the Government’s favourite environmental performance study, Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index. For more on this story, visit: NZ drops to 43 in world environment report | YCELP.